The Ten Best International Releases of 2025
As the year draws to a close, we reflect on the international music that pushed boundaries. We explore ten remarkable albums that defined the year in music.
Number Ten: The Percussionist Sarathy Korwar – There Already Is Beauty
The concept of a 40-minute, uninterrupted piece built on cyclical drumming might not seem the most approachable musical proposition. But, Indian drummer and composer Sarathy Korwar transforms this insistent rhythm into a hypnotically captivating album. Directing an trio of three drummers, Korwar develops a dense percussive vocabulary throughout the record's ten parts. His composition references Steve Reich's phasing motifs as well as classical Indian rhythmic patterns, all anchored in the reiteration of a continual, thrumming motif. The longer one listens, this refrain evokes the ceremonial rhythm of ritual music, pulling the listener deeper into Korwar's unique percussive realm.
Number Nine: Yasmine Hamdan – I Remember I Forget
Coming off an eight-year break, Arab vocalist and composer Yasmine Hamdan re-emerges with a contemplative collection of songs. The work builds upon the Arabic-language, dub-tinged aesthetic that cemented her status in the Arab alternative scene since the 1990s. Hamdan's voice is gentle and introspective, singing delicate melodies over the bowing strings of a track like Hon and the rolling trip-hop groove of Vows. For more upbeat numbers such as Shadia and Abyss, she employs a trembling, longing vocal technique against north African synth lines and clattering electronic percussion. The production is lean and subtle, yet this minimalism offers the ideal canvas for Hamdan's deeply felt songwriting to shine through. It is well worth the long anticipation.
Number Eight: Debit – Slowed Down
From Mexico electronic artist Debit has a knack for uncanny reimaginings of archival audio. On her new album, Desaceleradas, she zeroes in on the 90s style of cumbia rebajada – a decelerated, dub-inflected version of the shuffling Latin American musical style. Debit drags this sound to a near-halt, processing its characteristic synths and off-beat rhythm through sheets of murk and static to create a new, menacing rhythm. At turns atmospheric and uneasy, Debit converts the joyous party music of cumbia into a enduring, ghostly afterimage.
7. The São Paulo Producer DJ K – Radio Libertadora!
Sheer intensity is the key term for the records of Brazilian producer Kaique Vieira, also known as DJ K. Inventing his own genre of "bruxaria" (witchcraft), Vieira layers a cacophony of alarms, explosive bass tones and screamed lyrics over the enduring Brazilian dance style of baile funk. This emulates the driving sound of neighborhood block parties. On his new record, Radio Libertadora!, Vieira escalates the ferocity, throwing in everything from driving techno rhythms to the sound of the Islamic call to prayer into his unruly bruxaria mix. The result is a especially manic and overwhelmingly noisy 40-minute sonic journey. Surrender to the noise and Vieira's bold productions become strangely exhilarating.
Number Six: Mohinder Kaur Bhamra – Punjabi Disco
Religious vocalist Mohinder Kaur Bhamra's early-80s release of disco music and Punjabi folk melodies is a rediscovered masterpiece. Recorded by her son, music producer Kuljit Bhamra, Punjabi Disco's ten tracks offer an unusually captivating combination of the metallic sound of early synthesizers and programmed drums with her fluid classical Indian singing style. Electronic percussion mimics the wavelike tones of the traditional drums, while synth lines replicates the classic sound of the harmonium on tracks such as Pyar Mainu Kar. At other times, Latin-inflected grooves comes to the fore on Soniya Mukh Tera, and Nainan Da Pyar De Gaya features a up-tempo walking disco bassline. It's a dancefloor fusion created more than ten years before the Asian Underground explosion.
5. The Mongolian Artist Enji – Resonance
From Mongolia singer Enji's gentle fourth album, Sonor, builds upon her jazz-inflected sound to offer some of her most diverse music so far. Stepping outside her training in traditional Mongolian "long song" singing, the record's 11 tracks travel from the gentle jazz-pop melodics of slow-burning number Ulbar to the German-language narration lyrics and trilling guitar lines of Unadag Dugui. The album also includes a energetic, funk-tinged cover of the 80s Mongolian pop hit Eejiinhee Hairaar. Showcasing a ensemble rather than her standard setup of guitar and bass, Sonor's sound manages to stay intimate, pulling the listener into the warm acoustics of her distinctive voice.
Number Four: Derya Yıldırım and Her Band – Yarın Yoksa
Channeling the psychedelic tradition of Anatolian rock established by groups such as Moğollar, Turkish-born, Germany-based singer Derya Yıldırım's new album alongside her group fuses the metallic twang of the amplified traditional lute with dreamy Mellotron and R&B-inflected lines. It's a nostalgic vibe anchored in Yıldırım's strong falsetto and influenced by producer Leon Michels' warm, tape-saturated aesthetic. But, on Turkish standards such as the nursery rhyme Hop Bico and 1960s song Ceylan, the group finds vibrant new territory. They craft slinking, downtempo grooves and powerful vocals that impart a novel, unconventional interpretation to the Anatolian psychedelic style.
Number Three: The Colombian Artist Lido Pimienta – The Beauty
Gregorian chants, Czech harpsichord folksong and symphonic arrangements all come together on Colombian singer Lido Pimienta's extraordinary latest work. Orchestrating music for the 60-piece Medellín Philharmonic Orchestra, Pimienta and producer Owen Pallett traverse a vast range including the Gregorian chants of opener Overturn (Obertura de la Luz Eterna) to the theatrical counterpoint melodies of Aún Te Quiero and the syncopated reggaeton-inspired beats of the brass and woodwind-led El Dembow del Tiempo. Ultimately, it is Pim
